RailNews

NTSB Says Speed a Factor in Amtrak Derailment

Preliminary reports from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) indicate that speed was a factor in Monday’s derailment of Amtrak Train 501 at DuPont, Wash., which killed three passengers and injured dozens more. At a news conference late Monday, NTSB board member Bella Dinh-Zarr said the speed of the train at the time of the accident had been determined by downloading the event data recorder from the train’s rear locomotive. The train had been traveling at 80 m.p.h., ignoring a 30 m.p.h. speed restriction for a sharp curve.

According to a November 8 filing with the Surface Transportation Board, Watco will operate 49 miles of Norfolk Southern’s Ithaca Secondary between Sudbury, Pa., and Lansing, N.Y., as the Ithaca Central Railroad.